Monday, June 22, 2009

Here we gooooooooooooooo...........

Denise came down to our house for a visit today. Mom thought she was going to take Bond back to Brigadoon today, but that wasn't the case. Instead, Denise worked with Mom on training Bond and Pippin. She gave Mom pointers, told her what she needed to work on, and showed her how to do it. Mom has a LONG way to go, and hopefully she'll figure it out. :) Bond is here as a permanent fixture in our lives. Bond will go back to Brigadoon a couple of times this summer while I'm in school or at camp. Mom's friend Jennifer was here as well, and that was a big help. Now there are a total of 3 people who know how to handle Bond. This has given Mom a little bit of relief knowing that there is someone else who can help and give encouragement.

It's hard to believe that we are here. That this is actually happening. Thank you to all of you who made this happen! It's hard to believe that we're really here. We have a long way to go, so there will be a lot more blog posting as we go through the training process. But as for now, here we go!

My Story

Hi. I'm Aaron. I'm 8 years-old and I have autism. I can't talk yet, but I'm close. I do have a little problem (okay a big problem) with running away. I'm stealthy, fast, sneaky and silent.

Because I have such a problem with escaping, I need help from a service dog to help prevent me from running away. A dog that would block me when I was trying to run. This would help me and my parents a lot. See, it's hard to go to the park or beach because they spend the whole time chasing me (I have a brother and sister too). It's hard to go to friend and family get-togethers because they spend the entire time chasing me and can't visit with other people.

Check out my Diary of an Autistic Escape Artist for some of my escape stories. This would be an actual service dog so it could go to the store, school, and vacations with me. It would be my companion, and would help keep me safe.

The only roadblock is that a service dog is expensive. My parents have decided to go with an organization called Brigadoon Youth and Service Dogs. The fee for a service dog from Brigadoon is $5,000. That's where this blog comes into play. Getting a service dog is a long process. It will probably be 2009 before a dog could come home with me permanently.